The Elements of Ritual by Debora

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The moon right now

The Elements of Ritual by Deborah Lipp

by Calypso

The Elements of Ritual is that rarest of gems, an excellent, intermediate-level book on Wicca. Lipp was first initiated into a Gardnerian coven in 1981, and has been teaching and running rituals since 1986; her extensive experience is evident throughout this book, which can be used by covens and solitaries alike. Lipp’s focus here is on the meaning of each stage of Wiccan ritual: she examines the spiritual purpose and practical considerations surrounding each rite in painstaking detail. The result is a book packed with both practical information and food-for-thought for the intermediate student of Wicca.

The book is structured around the four elements used in ritual – air, fire, water and earth. Lipp begins by explaining the Wiccan associations with each element – a staple of most Wicca 101 texts – but actually goes one step further by challenging some of the correspondences that most books trot out unthinkingly. In particular, she explains her own reasons for associating the athame with fire and the wand with air, rooting it in the history of the Golden Dawn magical lodge and Waite’s alleged reversal of the two associations in the creation of his tarot deck to preserve his oath of secrecy. She also observes that “The sword is the more destructive tool, and fire is more destructive than air [...]. Once you get to know the tools, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that a person wielding a sword means business (has Will), but a person holding a wand might just be thinking it over”. This, for me, was an interesting and refreshing perspective; although I had come across the sword/fire-wand/air associations before, I have never previously come across an author who took the pains to explain why it should be so – or, in fact, to even consider the question. The idea of balance is also paramount. “It is the elements that bring their quality into the circle,” she explains. “Without Water, your ritual will be heartless and cold; without Air, your ritual will be thoughtless and ill-considered. Without Fire, your ritual will lack will, it will be aimless and meandering; and without Earth, your ritual will not be grounded.”

Lipp goes on to use the elements to examine every aspect of ritual from the perspective of the four elements: theology (air), practicality (earth), myth (water), and mysticism (fire). Each chapter deals with a separate stage of ritual in minute detail: cleansing, preparation, casting, calling the quarters, invoking deity, cakes and ale, and closing the circle. She’s not concerned with providing spells or recipes for funky incense; her purpose here is to guide and encourage the reader to develop a cohesive symbol system, and this again sets her books apart from so many others. Although she never says it in so many words, there is a very strong sense that the old Eclectic dictum “do what you feel is right” is not always enough by itself: ritual should and must possess integrity in order to be as powerful as possible. In several places, she goes out of her way to explain how not to perform certain elements of ritual, in order that the ritual may remain consistent with itself. That said, there is no sense that Lipp believes there is only one “right” way of conducting ritual. Although she encourages her readers to develop their own rituals and provides many helpful tips, she also includes a variety of examples for each stage of the ritual, from the highly formal to rites performed purely through movement and sound. I found these very inspiring: even Lipp’s formal rites are written in a style that is designed for memorization, so that you don’t end up fumbling around and squinting at the book in the candlelight.

I wouldn’t give this book to an absolute beginner, as Lipp does assume some familiarity with the general structure of Wicca and Wiccanesque practice. I’d definitely recommend it to people who have been practicing for a while, as Lipp’s text challenges the reader to reconsider any assumptions he or she may have made about ritual. And I would totally recommend it to anyone who’s read a couple of ‘101’ books and is eager to learn more; I think it would be an excellent accompaniment, say, to Scott Cunningham’s introductory books on Wicca. Cunningham’s books introduce the central ideas and tenets of Wicca and encourage the reader to explore and research more. Lipp’s book provides guidelines for creating a coherent spiritual practice, while still leaving the direction and focus of ritual up to the reader. I enjoyed this book immensely, and I learned a lot from it; and I am looking forward to reading Lipp’s second book The Way of Four (dealing with the four elements themselves) in the near future.